U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,170,611 and 5,205,110, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, disclose indexing motion apparatuses and methods for vacuum packaging of articles such as hot dogs, sliced luncheon meat, cheese or pharmaceuticals.
U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12/605,101 and 12/605,171, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference, disclose packaging machines including web transport conveyors transporting webs of flexible packaging material from upstream to downstream locations through a series of stations; and packaging apparatuses including a forming station and a closing station, each having a movable die member that is counterbalanced.